Chapter 14: Seattle

Still changing drivers every hour or so, they made good time all the next day. Their vehicle tended to overheat on the hills, so they had to take easier as they reached higher elevations, but it never got to the point where they were too worried.

"Not many cars through here," Charley commented, "Not a lot of trucks, neither."

"Less traffic than there used to be," Phil agreed. "Fewer people traveling by car, since the portals opened up short cuts by way of other worlds, and most trucking goes by portal now, too. We could use a few more cars around to make us harder to find, but that's the way it goes."

They stopped in Spokane to fill up the gas tank again, grabbing some hot food at a drive-through diner, and were on their way again. They found more cars on the road as they neared Seattle, but the traffic was never what Phil considered heavy compared to what he had been used to around WashingtonD.C.

"Which way from here," Charley asked as they neared the outskirts of Seattle.

"Let's see." Phil hastily re-folded the map he'd been studying. "Take the 1-405 North exit a couple of miles up ahead. That'll take us right into Bellevue, and then we can figure out just how we're going to contact Neal Marten."

"I've got an idear about that," Charley mused. "Mike Riley, our project boss on Aurora lives here in Bellevue. His wife Nancy is expecting their baby in a couple of months, so she's staying home instead of going with him. I know her pretty well, so if we can get to her she can help us make it the rest of the way."

"Maybe we can phone her." Phil studied his map. "Next place you see a phone booth, pull over and we'll look for her in the phone book."

"Yeah, we can maybe fill up the gas tank at the same time, and grab a paper. There might be something in it about our situation." Charley maneuvered the SUV through the increasingly heavy afternoon traffic as urban workers headed for home, finally pulling off the freeway into a neighborhood where stores and businesses mingled with suburban homes. "There's a gas station with a phone booth."

Rowlf burrowed back under the sleeping bags in the back as they pulled up to the pump, fully aware that his presence could set off warning signals to anyone on the lookout for them. While Phil pumped gas into their nearly empty tank, Charley leafed through the tattered phone book in the semi- open booth. Nodding his head in satisfaction, he plunked a couple of coins into the slot and dialed a number.

"Nancy? Hi, it's me, Charley Burke."

"Charley? There are you? No, don't answer that! Hold on a moment."

A few seconds of silence were followed by a click.

"Charley? Neal Marten here. Are you alone? Just answer yes or no."

"No. That's up?"

"Never mind that. OK I got you located. Drive four blocks north, and wait."

Charley heard a click as the connection was broken, followed by the hum of a dial tone. Phil was paying for their gas as he got back into the driver's seat, and as soon as that was done Charley started the engine and pulled out into the street.

"That's going on," Phil asked. That's the rush?"